Saskatchewan Legislature (file photo/CJME News Staff)

By Glenn Hicks

accounting

Prince Albert MLAs look forward to modified legislative session

May 26, 2020 | 6:04 PM

Prince Albert Northcote MLA, New Democrat Nicole Rancourt, calls it a compromise but is happy to have the legislature back in session for 14 starting days next month.

The public will learn a lot more about how the province’s finances look and exactly where hundreds of millions of dollars in extra spending is going on June 15. On that date, Finance Minister Donna Harpauer will table the 2020-21 provincial budget, to be followed by two weeks of examination of the budget estimates in various legislative committees.

“We need budget hours [of debate] and to talk to ministers face to face and ask ‘where is this money going,'” Rancourt told paNOW. “The people of the province deserve to know what it’s being used for.”

Rancourt said the COVID-19 situation meant there could not be a normal legislative session – only 10 governing and five opposition members will be in attendance in the House to follow social distancing protocols. She said the seriousness of the pandemic and the economic fall-out made it vital the public have an idea of where the province is heading financially.

“The people of the province want to know how the government is going to work through this [pandemic], how they’re going to provide supports to the citizens, and make sure their taxpaying dollars are used in an appropriate manner,” she said.

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NDP Leader Ryan Meili has for many weeks called on Premier Scott Moe to recall the legislative assembly back to work and called the modified legislative arrangement “a victory for democracy.”

Meanwhile, Prince Albert Carlton MLA, the Saskatchewan Party’s Joe Hargrave, said he was looking forward to getting back inside the legislature but played down the notion that a huge amount of unaccounted expenses had been racked up.

“The finance minister has released the budget already on expenditures… we’ve added $2 billion in infrastructure uptick and some other programs. Obviously there’s going to be a change in revenues and we’ll have to account for that,” he said.

He couldn’t say if there would be any new taxation announcements made on June 15.

Harpauer released the government’s spending estimates on March 18, shortly before the legislature was adjourned due to the pandemic.

In April, Harpauer announced the province’s revenues would drop significantly due to the impact of the virus.

Hargrave said he expected the announcement to “outline some scenarios on where we might land and some possibilities for the future.”

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glenn.hicks@jpbg.ca

On Twitter:@princealbertnow